Refrigerating apparatus



Aug. 15, 1933. KING 1,922,100

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 51, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet l gnwntoz 351 jww, AMMM'QH4 all,

EMJ *5 Aug. 15, 1933. J. 5. KING REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 31, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 gwocnfoz 5 4 Patented Aug. 15, 1933 REFRIGERATIN G APPARATUS Jesse G. King, Dayton,

aire Corporation, tion of Delaware Ohio, assignor to Frigid- Dayton, Ohio, a Corpora- Application January 31, 1929. Serial No. 336,415

5 Claims.

The presentinvention relates to refrigerating apparatus and particularly to cooling units for cooling refrigerator boxes and for freezing or congealing substances.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved cooling unit which will quickly freeze or congeal a substance and which will maintain the food or storage compartment of the refrigerator box at the desired temperatures, not too cold for general refrigeration.

My improvements are particularly applicable to cooling units in which it is desired to have a plurality of ice tray receiving sleeves or supports. In carrying out this invention I construct and arrange the ice tray receiving sleeve and the refrigerant conveying ducts so that the under side of the sleeves are in intimate thermal contact with the refrigerant conveying ducts.

My invention further contemplates arranging the ducts so that portions thereof lie outwardly of the ice tray supports or sleeves in more intimate contact with the circulating air and are arranged so as to protect the sleeves from the warming effect of air which flows over the cooling unit during normal operation.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a front view of the refrigerator box with the refrigerator door open showing my improved cooling unit in a desired position;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view of one of the duct loops comprising a part of the cooling unit and further shows in dot-and-dash lines the manner of positioning the duct loops;

Fig. 4 is a front view of the cooling unit on a somewhat larger scale than that shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a side view on a somewhat larger scale than that shown in Fig. 2, and

Fig. 6 is a front view showing a slightly modified form of the invention.

One of the'problems of mechanical refrigeration is providing a cooling unit which will freeze or congeal a substance quickly and which will insure, at the same time, the desired temperature within the food compartment, not too cold for general refrigerating purposes. By the present invention I have arranged a cooling unit which has portions in intimate thermal contact with the under side of the ice tray and other portions lying outwardly of the ice tray which cool the circulating air and which at the same time shield or protect the ice tray from the circulating air which flows thereover.

Referring to the drawings, the cooling unit 20 is shown disposed in the upper left hand corner of a refrigerator box 21. The portion of the box not occupied by the cooling unit 20 may be called the food or cooling compartment 22. A plurality of shelves 23 and 24 are positioned within the refrigerator box and are preferably made of wire mesh, the shelf 23 being adapted to carry a defrosting pan 26 directly below the cooling unit 20.

The cooling unit 20 comprises a header 27 adapted to contain a quantity of liquid refrigerant, the level of which is indicated generally by the dotted line 28 in Fig. 5. Refrigerant is 5 delivered to the header 27 through a coupling 29 connected with a pipe 30 and refrigerant is withdrawn from the header through a coupling 32 and pipe 33. The pipe 30 is connected with the condenser and the pipe 33 is connected with the low pressure side of the compressor when the cooling unit is used in connection with a compressor-condenser type refrigerating system. The flow of refrigerant to the header from the pipe 30 is controlled by a needle valve 34 which is actuated by a float 35 carried by a bell crank lever 36 which lever is pivotally mounted at 37 and pivotally connected to the needle valve 35 at 38.

The cooling unit also comprises a plurality of duct loops 40 which are connected with the header below the liquid level therein and therefore adaptedto receive liquid refrigerant therefrom. These duct loops are identical in contour and each comprises a relatively long-vertical branch 41, a relatively short lower and vertical extending branch 42 which is connected with branch 41 by a horizontal extending branch 43, and an upper vertically extending branch 44 disposed alongside of the branch 41 and connected with the branch 43 by horizontal branch 45, and angularly branches 46 and 47 which respectively connect the branch portions 41 and 44 with the header 27. Alternate duct loops are reversely turned as shown in the dot-and-dash 1 line of Fig. 3 to thereby provide two sets of duct loops, each of the loops of one set having its ends connected to one side of the vertical axis of the header, and, each of the loops of the other set having its ends connected to the other side of the header. By this arrangement two freezing compartments 48 and 49 are provided.

The horizontal branch portions 45 and 43 of the two sets of ducts provide supports or shelves for ice tray sleeves 51 and 52 respectively, the sleeves being preferably soldered to the branches 45 and 43 so as to be in intimate thermal contact with the refrigerant in the duct loops. It has been found that quicker freezing is had by cooling of the sleeve through the bottom thereof. Therefore, water or food stuff substances contained within the ice trays, which rest on the bottom wall of the sleeve, is quickly cooled.

It will be noted that the branch portions4l lie outwardly a substantial distance from the sleeves. Fins 54 are thermally connected with the branch portions 41 and with the side walls of the sleeves 51 and 52 which aid in conducting heat from the side walls of the sleeves 51 and 52. The branch portions 41 lying outwardly of the sleeves 51 and 52 and the fins 54 provide a shield of heat exchange material for the sleeves 51 and 5 2 and in this manner the sleeves are nested within a relatively cold zone of the cool- -ing unit, the branches 41 and fins 54 being adapted to precool the circulating air before it comes in contact with the sleeves.

It is therefore apparent from the foregoing that by arranging the duct loops as shown and described, I have provided a cooling unit in which both ice tray sleeves or supports are in intimate thermal contact with the refrigerant, the arrangement being such as to provide what may be termed a freezing zonewhich is shielded or protected from the circulating air bywhat may be termed a freezing zone, the heat exchange material which shields or protects the freezing zone being arranged to cool the circulating air, for box refrigeration, to the desired temperature.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a slightly modified form of the invention which may be used when more than two ice trays are desired or when a relatively deep tray is desired. 7 The cooling unit 20' is also provided with a header 2'7 but in this type of cooling unit the branch portion 41' and the branch portions 42' are made somewhat longer than the branch portions 41 and 42 of the cooling unit shown in the other figures. A relatively deep sleeve 52 is used instead of sleeve 52 shown in other figures. This relatively deep sleeve is provided with inwardly bent portions 55 which are adapted to carry a removable plate 56 thus dividing the same into two separate sleeves and which when removed provides a relatively deep sleeve for a relatively deep tray.

The cooling units are preferably carried by the lining 60 of the cabinet. Supporting brackets 61 and 62 are suitably secured to the header 27 as by soldering and each provides horizontal extending branch portions 64 and 65 respectively. Stove bolts 66 extend through the cabinet lining 60 and through strips 68. These strips 68 are provided with square openings which receive the upper square portion of the stove bolts and thus prevent turning of the same. The stove bolts 66 extend through spacers '70 and through the flanges 64 and 65 for clamping these flanges between the spacers '70 and-nuts '71, thus removably securing the cooling unit in position.

The manner of assembling the cooling unit shown in Fig. 6 is somewhat different from that shown in the other figures in that a strap 73 is clamped in position by the stove bolts 66 and the outwardly extending flange portions 65 are secured to the strap 63 by bolts '74 and nuts '75. In Fig. 6 there is shown a partition which divides the cabinet into a cooling compartment '76 and a food compartment '77. This partition includes a vertical wall '78 having an upper air passage '19 and includes a bottom wall 81 having an air passage 82. Directly below the air passage 82 there is provided a drip pan 83 which extends only the length of the cooling unit and is therefore spaced from the front and back of the cabinet so as to provide a downwardly extending passage leading from the compartment '76 into the lower leg of the L-shaped food compartment 7'7.

The cooling units may be provided with tray fronts 85 shown in Figs. 2 and 5. These tray fronts extend substantially across the front of the cooling unit and are provided with openings in alignment with the ice tray sleeves so as to permit the insertion of ice trays. These tray fronts are preferably secured by screws 86 to brackets 87 which brackets are in turn suitably secured on opposite sides of the sleeves 51 and 52. I

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cooling unit adapted to be placed in the path of the medium to be cooled thereby, said cooling unit comprising a header, a plurality of ice tray supports disposed one above the other, and a plurality of duct loops eachhaving its ends connected with the header, said loops being of non-symmetrical shape and certain of said loops being reversely turned to form two sets of loops, the ends of each of the loops of one set being connected to one side of the header, each of said sets having a portion extending between the supports and providing a freezing portion and each having a portion lying outwardly of the freezing portion in the path of the circulating medium.

2. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cooling unit comprising a header, a plurality of ice tray supports disposed one above the other, a plurality of duct loops arranged in longitudinal alignment and each having its ends connected to one side of the header and having a portion'extending between said supports and a portion extending along one side of said supports, and duct means lying along the opposite sides of said supports and connected to the other side of said header.

3. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cooling unit comprising a header, a plurality of ice tray supports disposed one above the other, a plurality of duct loops arranged in longitudinal alignment and each having its ends connected to one side of the header and having a portion extend- 1 ing between said supports and a portion extending along one side of said supports, and duct loops each having its ends connected to the other side of the header and having a portion extending between said supports and having a portion extending along the opposite sides of said supports. I

, 4. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cooling unit comprising a header, a plurality of ice tray supports, a plurality of duct loops arranged in longitudinal alignment and. each having its ends connected to one side of the header and having portions in intimate thermal contact with the underside of each of said supports and a portion extending along one side of said supports, and duct means lying along the opposite sides of said supports and connected to the other side of said header.

5. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cooling unit comprising a header, a plurality of enclosures open at one end and adapted to receive ice trays,

said enclosures being disposed one-above the' other, a plurality of duct loops arranged in longitudinal alignment and each having its ends connected to one side of the header and having a portion extending between said enclosures and a portion extending along one side of said enclosures, and duct means lying along the opposite sides of said enclosures and connected to the other side of said header.

JESSE G. KING. 

